Thursday, January 8, 2015

Delight in the Mess...

This morning I decided to dig into the pomegranate I have been hoarding for a couple weeks. What a lovely fruit! I can remember the first time I found out such a thing existed… I was 11 years old, my family was on vacation in California. When I saw one busted open, it was like a bowl full of edible rubies! They stained and were a little messy, but oh so sweet!  

The one I deseeded this morning was a biggy… just packed full of those sweet ruby pieces! What an abundant blessing! From the outside of a pomegranate you have no idea what beauty could be on the inside! You have to crack it open to get out the good stuff! But as you break into it, the juice will splatter all over, your fingers will get stained and messy, but the “treasure” at the end of the inconvenient mess is so worth it! 

As I was plucking the precious fruit I was reminded of the word I have for this year… DELIGHT! It may not be delightful to do what you have to do to get to the good stuff, but finding delight in each step of the way can really change your attitude in the outcome!

We know the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” ~ Psalms 37:4… that is a great place to start, but what does delight really look like??? It cannot be like, “I’ll delight in You, Lord, so You will give me what I want!”… although I know I have been there before! As I contemplated this word, I really felt like God was reminding me that no matter my circumstances, no matter the messiness of life, no matter how I feel… I must choose to delight daily in the life He has given me!

So then this morning I came across this verse, “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With His love, He will calm all you fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”  ~ Zephaniah 3:17… Delight actually started with my Heavenly Father… He delights in me with gladness! In another translation, the word delight is exchanged with celebrates! Life is a celebration when I keep my eyes on Him!